Monthly Archives: July 2015

Check out the new Archives and Special Collections subject guide. It sorts our holdings into 11 subject areas and lists the relevant collections. Whenever there is a digital component or an online guide to the collection, there is a link to those resources. We will be updating the guide on a regular basis to incorporate new collections and new digital resources.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the AU Digital Research Archive. The Digital Research Archive includes all of our digital collections as well as all of the content from AU’s institutional repository.

Our new repository platform offers improved search capability. You can now search across all of our collections or within an individual collection. You can limit your results by using the facets provided. You can sort results by the name of the creator, the date the item was created, the local identifier or the title.

The Digital Research Archive is divided into collections and sub-collections to facilitate browsing. The upper level consists of the following collections: Schools and Colleges: Including Syllabi and University Library, Special Collections, Student Research, and University Archives. The Schools and College Collection is further sub-divided by school or format. All department or school newsletters and magazines are within their school. University wide publications can be found in the University Archives collection. The University Archives collection also contains historic documents and photographs. All graduate and undergraduate research papers (including capstones, theses, and dissertations) are located in the student research collection.

Special Collections recently acquired a copy of Lee Marrs’ The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp. No. 1. Published by Berkeley based Last Gasp-Eco Funnies in 1973, this is the first of three comics featuring Pudge, an obese virgin from Normal, Illinois, who hitchhikes to San Francisco in her quest to get laid. This collection includes “Pudge in the Case of the Venereal Virgin,” “Pudge in Who Was Dat Self I Saw You With?,” “Pudge in the Fat Rip-Off,” and “Pudge Takes a Trip.”

Cover of First Issue of Pudge Girl Blimp

Lee Marrs graduated from AU with a degree in Fine Art in 1967. She drew comics on social and political themes for AU’s student newspaper, The Eagle. Marrs was one of the original contributors to the Wimmen’s Commix anthology. She started her own animation and computer graphics company in 1972. Marrs has written and drawn both underground and mainstream comics. She worked as an artist on Prince Valiant and author on Wonder Woman.